A. Ships cost a lot of money to built.

A general gargo vessel costs several million pounds

and a giant tanker can cost over 40 milion pounds. One reason for this is the high cost of
steel and other materials used in ship building. Another reason is the high cost of labour.
A modern shipyard is designed for building ships as cheaply and quickly as possible.
Many of the old processes have disappeared or been combined into one fully mechanized
process. Machines are now used instead of men. Today, ships can be built in about sixteen
months and costs can be kept to a minimum.
Who designed ships? Ships are designed by the naval architects. The largest shipping
companies have their own naval architects. In Eurpe and Japan, shipyards employ naval
architects to design a ship for a customer, or offer basic designs which can be varied to
suit the customers needs. Shipowners may also go to independent firm of shipping
coansultants and ask their naval architects to design a ship for them.
When shipowners decide to order a new ship, they tell the naval architect the cargo they
want the ship to carry. They also tell him what routes the ship will play and the desired
speed. They put limits on the ships dimensions and on the price that they are prepared to
pay. The ship must also comply with the rules of the classification society and
international regulation. Economic, engineering and safety factors all govern the design
of ship.
B. The building of a ship follows a well- ordered sequence of events. After the vessel has
been ordered, the plans are completed in the drawing-office. Next, the final plans must be
approved by a classification society such as Lloyds Register of Shipping. This is
necessary if the owner wants his ship to be classed. While is being built, constant checks
are made to make sure she is being built to the standards of the society. Classification will
show that the ship is seaworthly and able to carry the cargo she has been designed to
carry.
Nowadays a shipyard is organized so that each stage in the building of a ship is done in a
continuous chain of shops. Each shop is linked by conveyor rollers and moving cranes on
rails.
First of all, steel plates and bars are taken from the the stockyard to the preparation shop.
Here they are cleaned by shot blasting. Then they are coated with a primer paint to
prevent corrosion. Later, they are cut and shaped automatically by machines. Cutting is
done by gas torches and shaping by giant presses. After that, the pieces are welded
together in prefabrication sheds to form sections. Welding is now used instead of riveting
for joining pieces of metal together. Riveting uses more steel than welding and was
therefore more expensive. It also increases the weight of the ship without increasing the
strength. The prefabrication section are then transferred to the building berth. Eventually
they are lifted into position by giant cranes.
When a ship is ready , she is launched. Some ships are built in a sleepway and slide into
the water. Others are built in dry dock is then flooded with water and the ship is floated
out. After being launched, she is towed to the fitting out basin by tugs and completed.
A completed ship goes for sea trials before she is handed over to her new owners. During
these the ship and her equipment are thoroughly tested.